


Don't Panic

by annaxmims



Series: Tumblr Prompts [72]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Disorder, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Panic Attacks, carlos centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24510970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annaxmims/pseuds/annaxmims
Summary: Tumblr Prompts:Could you write a fic about Carlos struggling with anxiety and TK helping ground him and calm him down?
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: Tumblr Prompts [72]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626286
Comments: 5
Kudos: 195





	Don't Panic

Carlos could feel it from the moment he woke up that morning. His skin was crawling and his own thoughts were getting on his nerves. He knew he was going to have a bad day. He really wanted to call in and stay curled up in bed with TK, the lucky son of a bitch had the day off, but that wasn’t an option.

He rolled out of bed, leaving TK to murmur in his sleep, moving over to press his face into Carlos’ pillow. He tried not to look at himself too closely in the mirror as he brushed his teeth. His hands were shaking as he tried to eat his breakfast, nervous energy running through his veins.

He tried his best to calm himself down on the way to work, counting in the silence of his car. Whatever progress he might have made was immediately undone when he got to the station.

The bullpen was chaotic. The night shift officers had left paperwork strewn around everywhere and apparently the entire city of Austin had decided to need them. Dispatch calls were ringing off the hook.

No sooner than he and Travis, the rookie he was training, got into the car, Grace came on the line, alerting them to a situation in the park.

He let Travis drive for once, not trusting himself to be on the road in his anxious state. Travis kept glancing at him worriedly as he fidgeted in his seat, picking at his thumbnail.

“Eyes on the road probie,” he snapped.

Travis nodded and gripped the steering wheel tightly, hardly daring to blink. Carlos sighed, an apology on the tip of his tongue, but it vaporized when they arrived on the scene.

The 126 was already there, Carlos spotted Judd’s overly large form before he even stepped out of the car.

“What happened?” he asked, falling into step with Owen.

“Daredevil teenagers. These idiots thought it would be a great idea to try and build a ramp to jump over the monkey bars. You can see how well that went down.”

Carlos shook his head at the mangled pile of metal that had once been the monkey bars and the smoking clump of what he thought was a dirt bike.

“The thing caught fire when it crashed, but we put it out when we got here. We’ve got the worst of the injured taken care of.”

“So I have to arrest the other two for disturbing the peace. They’re not gonna take that well,” he sighed.

Owen patted him lightly on the back, “Rough morning?”

“You don’t know the half of it. I’m really envying your son right now.”

“You and me both.”

Carlos stepped away from Owen and approached the two teenage boys. Of course they tried to plead with him as he and Travis cuffed them. Carlos didn’t even feel an ounce of sympathy. It was only ten o’clock and he was done with his day.

He was halfway through processing the boys when the captain dropped a stack of case files on his desk.

“I need you to go through these cold cases and organize them.”

“Are we opening any of them back up?”   
“Not currently. But the night shift left the file room and evidence lockup a mess. Help me out here Carlos.”

“Of course sir.”

By one o’clock he and Travis hadn’t even worked their way through a quarter of the files. He took a break, words swimming in front of his eyes and picked up his phone.

From TK: You okay? Dad said you looked rough on a call

To TK: I’m fine. Long morning

From TK: Are you sure?

To TK: Yes. I’m kind busy, can’t talk right now

From TK: Okay… see you at home

Carlos sighed and was tempted to throw his phone across the room. He refrained, instead laying it down gently on his desk before banging his forehead against the wood harshly.

Travis gently slipped his hand under his head so that his forehead came in contact with his palm instead of the wood desk.

Carlos turned his head to look at him.

“Carlos are you okay?”

“I just snapped at my husband over text Travis. How do you think I’m doing?”

“So the answer is no. Maybe you should take a break, go for a walk or something. I can take care of this.”

“No I’m alright,” Carlos scrubbed a hand over his face. “The sooner we get this done the sooner we can go home.”

They finished up the files just in time to clock out.

“See you Wednesday Carlos,” Travis said as they went their separate ways.

Carlos just nodded, itching to get home.

By the time he pulled his car into the driveway his hands were shaking. He fumbled with his keys as he entered the house, dropping them on the table and kicking his shoes off haphazardly.

“Hey babe,” TK emerged from the kitchen. “I got- whoa.”

He was cut off when Carlos lunged at him, kissing him fiercely. TK kissed back before pushing him away gently, keeping hands on his arms.

“Carlos what’s going on with you?’

“I’m fine,” his breathing was heavy. “I’m fine.”

He leaned back in to kiss him again, but TK dodged him carefully, “Honey you’re not fine, you’re crying.”

Carlos hadn’t noticed the wetness on his cheeks until now. He slumped against TK, pressing his forehead to his shoulder.

“Hey, hey it’s okay,” he wrapped his arms tightly around him. “You wanna go sit down?”

Carlos nodded but made no move to let go. TK pried him away gently, keeping a firm arm around him as he led him to sit on the couch.

“Jesus ‘Los, you’re shaking.”

TK took his trembling hands in his, moving to squat in front of Carlos. His eyes were unfocused and his breathing was much too rapid for TK’s liking.

“Babe you gotta calm down. Listen to me, focus on my breathing.”

He placed one of Carlo’s hands on his chest and breathed in slowly and deliberately, before exhaling. He kept a steady pace until Carlos was following him, breathing in and out slowly.

He was still crying, but his hands were less shaky. TK moved to sit on the couch next to him, pulling him into a one armed hug.

“You wanna talk about it?” he asked quietly.

Carlos put his head on his shoulder and spoke softly, “I’ve had anxiety since high school. I was even on medicine for it at one point because it was so bad. I haven’t had a panic attack in a long time until today.”

“What was different about today?” a gentle hand moved through his hair.

“I don’t know. I just woke up and everything was off and it just got worse and worse as the day went on. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I’ve had my fair share of bad days and you always know what to do. Sometimes you need to let someone take care of you for a change. It’s okay to have bad days. We can eat the pizza I bought, take a bath, go to bed and hope tomorrow is better. We both have the day off so we can lay in bed and do nothing if you want.”

“That is literally my dream right now.”

“Okay then,” TK kissed the top of his head. “Allow me to make your dreams come true.”


End file.
